Remove secondary artist recording from track imports #41

New Issue

connor · 2026-03-21T14:14:06-04:00

connor commented

2026-03-21 14:14:06 -04:00

Description:

Currently, when a track has multiple artist credits on MusicBrainz (e.g., "Artist A feat. Artist B"), the tagger creates separate artist records in the DB for secondary/collaborating artists. This is done via extract_secondary_artists() in shanty-data/src/musicbrainz.rs, which walks the MusicBrainz artist credit array beyond the first entry and records non-"featuring" collaborators. The secondary_artists field on RecordingDetails (in shanty-data/src/types.rs) carries these through to the tagger in shanty-tag/src/tagger.rs, which then calls queries::artists::upsert() for each secondary artist.

This clutters the library with artists that the user didn't intentionally add — they show up in the library view, artist list, Subsonic browsing, and playlist artist picker.

What to change

shanty-data/src/musicbrainz.rs: Remove the extract_secondary_artists() function entirely. Remove the call to it in the get_recording() method (in the MetadataFetcher impl).
shanty-data/src/types.rs: Remove the secondary_artists: Vec<(String, String)> field from the RecordingDetails struct.
shanty-tag/src/tagger.rs: Remove any code that iterates over recording.secondary_artists and creates artist DB records for them. The tagger should only create/upsert the single primary artist.
shanty-tag/tests/integration.rs and shanty-watch/tests/integration.rs: Update any test mocks that set secondary_artists on RecordingDetails — change to secondary_artists: vec![] or remove the field entirely after the struct change.
Consider a cleanup migration or manual SQL: Existing secondary artist records in the DB won't be automatically removed. Either add a migration that deletes artists with no wanted items and no tracks, or document a manual cleanup query.

Acceptance criteria:

extract_secondary_artists() removed from musicbrainz.rs
secondary_artists field removed from RecordingDetails
Tagger only creates DB records for the primary artist
No secondary artist DB records created during tagging or downloading
All tests pass after the change
Library view only shows intentionally added artists

**Description:** Currently, when a track has multiple artist credits on MusicBrainz (e.g., "Artist A feat. Artist B"), the tagger creates separate artist records in the DB for secondary/collaborating artists. This is done via `extract_secondary_artists()` in `shanty-data/src/musicbrainz.rs`, which walks the MusicBrainz artist credit array beyond the first entry and records non-"featuring" collaborators. The `secondary_artists` field on `RecordingDetails` (in `shanty-data/src/types.rs`) carries these through to the tagger in `shanty-tag/src/tagger.rs`, which then calls `queries::artists::upsert()` for each secondary artist. This clutters the library with artists that the user didn't intentionally add — they show up in the library view, artist list, Subsonic browsing, and playlist artist picker. ### What to change 1. **`shanty-data/src/musicbrainz.rs`**: Remove the `extract_secondary_artists()` function entirely. Remove the call to it in the `get_recording()` method (in the `MetadataFetcher` impl). 2. **`shanty-data/src/types.rs`**: Remove the `secondary_artists: Vec<(String, String)>` field from the `RecordingDetails` struct. 3. **`shanty-tag/src/tagger.rs`**: Remove any code that iterates over `recording.secondary_artists` and creates artist DB records for them. The tagger should only create/upsert the single primary artist. 4. **`shanty-tag/tests/integration.rs`** and **`shanty-watch/tests/integration.rs`**: Update any test mocks that set `secondary_artists` on `RecordingDetails` — change to `secondary_artists: vec![]` or remove the field entirely after the struct change. 5. **Consider a cleanup migration or manual SQL**: Existing secondary artist records in the DB won't be automatically removed. Either add a migration that deletes artists with no wanted items and no tracks, or document a manual cleanup query. **Acceptance criteria:** - [ ] `extract_secondary_artists()` removed from musicbrainz.rs - [ ] `secondary_artists` field removed from `RecordingDetails` - [ ] Tagger only creates DB records for the primary artist - [ ] No secondary artist DB records created during tagging or downloading - [ ] All tests pass after the change - [ ] Library view only shows intentionally added artists

connor added the MediumPriority label 2026-03-21 14:19:37 -04:00

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Reference: Shanty/Main#41